Manchester / Lancaster
Lancaster has 3,216 residents (give or take 21) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US3300740420, checked 2026-10-19), about 64 people per square mile.
Lancaster is about 103 miles from the Census center point for Manchester in a straight line and covers 49.968 square miles of land (Census 2024 Gazetteer internal points and land area, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2024_Gazetteer/, checked 2026-10-19).
The quote form takes a ZIP code; for Lancaster that is 03584 (Census 2020 ZCTA to county subdivision and ZCTA to place relationship files, ZIP areas at least 20% inside the town, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/rel2020/zcta520/tab20_zcta520_cousub20_natl.txt and https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/rel2020/zcta520/tab20_zcta520_place20_natl.txt, checked 2026-10-19).
Lancaster is spread out at 64 people per square mile across 49.968 square miles of land, so a long refrigerant line run between the outdoor unit and the farthest indoor head is the sizing question an installer checks first.
Of the 1,421 occupied homes in Lancaster, 0% heat with natural gas, 72% with heating oil, 11% with electricity and 8% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US3300740420, checked 2026-10-19).
Heating oil is the largest single fuel in Lancaster at 72%, ahead of electricity at 11%, so the usual job here is an oil boiler or furnace coming out and a cold-climate heat pump going in, with the oil tank removed.
Lancaster has 4 points more oil heat than Coos County as a whole, where 68% of homes burn oil, and 7 points more electric heat than the county's 4% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US33007, checked 2026-10-19).
Lancaster has 1,557 housing units, 49% built before 1940 and 71% before 1980, with 14% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US3300740420, checked 2026-10-19).
Lancaster has 20 points more pre-1940 homes than Coos County as a whole (29%) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US33007, checked 2026-10-19). An older stock means more insulation upgrades before the heat pump goes in.
The median Lancaster home was built in 1942 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US3300740420, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 5.9 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US3300740420, checked 2026-10-19).
69% of Lancaster homes are single-family detached, 16% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 7% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US3300740420, checked 2026-10-19).
25% of Lancaster homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US3300740420, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 69% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.
49% of Lancaster homes were built before 1940 and 71% before 1980 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US3300740420, checked 2026-10-19), so insulation is the first sizing question: an older home leaks more heat per square foot, and the installer runs a room-by-room heat-loss calculation to size the system for what the walls and windows actually hold in, not just the floor plan.
Eversource lists Lancaster among the New Hampshire communities it serves for electricity (New Hampshire Department of Energy, utilities by city and town, https://www.energy.nh.gov/utilities-providers/utilities-city-town, checked 2026-10-19).
NHSaves air source heat pump rebate, run by NHSaves (Eversource, Liberty, Unitil), is a live program for New Hampshire addresses and lists a standard figure of $250 (registry row 6 verified 2026-10-14, https://nhsaves.com/residential/electric-heating-cooling-equipment/, checked 2026-10-16); confirm eligibility for the Lancaster address before counting it. With 11% of Lancaster homes already on electric heat and 80% on gas, oil or propane, the row that applies depends on the name on the electric bill and the fuel coming out.
Median household income in Lancaster is $68,911 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US3300740420, checked 2026-10-19); many state and utility heat pump rebate programs set higher incentive tiers for income-qualifying households, so the household income on the application, not the town median, decides which level applies.
Heating design temperature: -18F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Coos County row, 99% heating, PDF page 81 of 141 (Revised 11/11/2020), https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/Design%20Temperature%20Limit%20Reference%20Guide%20(2019%20Ed)%20-%20ENERGY%20STAR%20Single-Family%20New%20Homes_Rev11.pdf, fetched 2026-10-19, 99%.
That -18F figure is the Coos County cold-day number a Lancaster heat pump is sized against, so ask the installer to show the system's heating output at -18F, not at the milder rating-label temperature.
Ask what happens to the oil tank, since 72% of the 1,421 occupied Lancaster homes have one and removal is usually a separate line on the quote.
Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a Lancaster house from before 1940 (49% of the 1,557 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.
The form on this page is the follow-up for Lancaster. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.
No local contractor is named on this door for Lancaster yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.